Ref: Naked Bible 112: Ezekiel 1 & Ezekiel 1 PDF
I assure you that this really does require the companion PDF from Heiser. This is an academic study on the imagery of the Ancient Near East (ANE) in general and the Hebrews in particular. The supplementary PDF includes images from Mesopotamian archaeology to help the reader understand where Ezekiel’s imagery comes from. This addresses one of Heiser’s hobby horses – Zecharia Sitchen and his ilk. The Hebrew prophets did not describe literally what they saw in visions, as westerners might do; they described their visions in ritual terminology and imagery. As a fan of antiquities (cultural artifacts and symbols found in archaeology), this is a big thing for me, as well.
First, we note that the vision in Ezekiel 1 is the same basic vision as in Chapter 10. The differences have to do with Ezekiel’s visual orientation and some other factors. For example, the list of the figures’ faces who were moving the chariot are in a different order. Each face is always oriented on the same cardinal points of the compass. There are four faces on the figures, and you’ll need to refer to the pictures in the supplement: a human face on the south, a lion on the west, an eagle on the north, and a cherub/bull on the west. In the first vision, Ezekiel is facing north, so the southern face is what he sees first. In the second vision, Ezekiel eventually moves around to the doorway of the Temple (8:16) which is oriented to the east, so he’s facing west and the eastern face of the figures floating above the doorway is what he sees first.
It’s not that hard, folks.
The chapter opens with Ezekiel declaring when his visions began. His remark about the thirtieth year is most likely his own age. Verses 2-3 were added by some editor who explains when that thirtieth year was, which we calculate to be about 593 BC.
The imagery of four faces, human bodies with wings, and bovine legs and hooves were common in Babylon itself, not to mention among the Hebrews, given the description of the Tabernacle furnishings from Moses and from Solomon’s Temple. What Ezekiel sees is the divine courts of God, the Heavenly Temple from which Moses took his design of the Tabernacle. Several significant figures in Scripture were known to have been granted visions of the divine courts in Heaven. This is where the Elohim Council would be seen gathered in God’s Presence. Those who read this prophecy are supposed to understand that. There in Babylon, the same God ruled over all things.
Much the same can be said of the storm imagery in verse 4. There’s nothing new here; Moses met God in stormy clouds on Mount Sinai. It’s a common ritual image for God to be encountered in a storm to steal the thunder of various pagan storm deities. This is not gleaming metal and roaring engines of a flying saucer.
The next section describes the flying throne borne by the cherubim. While images across the ANE vary some, the Bible seems consistent in suggesting that cherubim resembled hybrid human-bulls by default. Refer again to the supplement for pictures that will help to clarify. Those images come from Mesopotamian archaeology, so they were common to both Babylonian and Hebrew rituals. Both Abraham and Jethro carried a Mesopotamian background in their worship of Jehovah.
The description of the Tabernacle has two cherubim on the Mercy Seat and two more on either side of the Ark – four in total. Thus, Ezekiel sees four in his vision. They were envisioned as bodyguards primarily for kings and deities in the ANE. In this case, they also carry the throne of God. However, the throne happens to be in a chariot. You’ll find lots of wheel imagery in the Tabernacle/Temple, in Ezekiel, Daniel, etc. It’s the symbol of mobility, and the wheels Ezekiel saw were capable of swiveling as needed. However, the propulsion was the cherubim.
As Heiser warns, don’t impose a literal meaning to the imagery by suggesting what that might look like to us. Everyone reading this book, Hebrew or Babylonian, would have understood the imagery as the throne of Jehovah. It echoes what Moses and the elders saw on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24). All the symbolism of what they saw of a humanoid figure dressed in a certain way was common across the ANE.
And if that throne imagery happens to include a rainbow, it’s not just decoration. It hearkens back to the Code of Noah, the default law of God for all of humanity (Gentiles, the Nations, etc.). It should also bring to mind the Second Rebellion of the Watchers and the Nephilim being crushed and in prison in the Abyss (AKA, Tartarus, Hades, etc.). God is faithful; He is not a negligent ruler, though His time frame is not like ours. We are obliged to meet Him on His terms. This is the God of Israel who is also the God of all Creation.
And the source of luminescence in this vision of Ezekiel is the same from Genesis to Revelation: God’s own Presence. The only reason the throne glows is because of Him, the source of all light (AKA, truth).
A main point of all this is to remind readers that what seems boring to us in reading a detailed description of this imagery wherever it appears in the Bible is critically important. You want to understand John’s Revelation? It’s all here in Ezekiel, Daniel, Moses, etc. For example, do you recall that Solomon’s Temple had a chariot in it (1 Chronicles 28:11-18; 1 Kings 7:13-36)? That Temple still stood at the time Ezekiel prophesied, so he borrows from all the imagery that Judeans would recognize.
A secondary point is that astrology did have an influence in Hebrew culture and in the Bible. Not the garbage today that claims to be astrology, but the science of the ancients. They did not distinguish astronomy from astrology. For the Hebrews in particular, the only reason for studying the lights in the sky was because God sometimes chose to speak that way. Remember the Magi? We cannot bind God from using such things as astrological observations or the common imagery of the ANE just because we find it superstitious froo-froo. God speaks as He chooses, not as we demand.
The message of Ezekiel to the Jews in Babylonian exile is that Jehovah is still God. They are in a bad situation, but that’s their own fault, not God’s. He’s still on His throne. In due time, He will give them a chance to recover what they lost from His covenant promises. How far they can accomplish that is up to them in their faithfulness.
